December 15, 1999
Norman’s Cay, Exuma, Bahamas
We left Nassau for Norman’s
Cay today. Along with 15 other
boats. Not all 15 boats went to Norman’s
however. Some went to Highborn or
Allens Cay. The whole gang(Blue Star,
Sea Teat, Amphora, Tididi, Katy, Alegria) are at Allens. Blue Star tells us they will come by
tomorrow. It’s about 10 miles between
the 2 Cays.
Last Night in Nassau, the
anchorage was over full. The city
lights were beautiful, but here in Normans it’s paradise! Beautiful islands, white sand beaches and
the water is so clear! We’re very glad
to be here. We have 2 packs of cigarettes
and then we’re done. Normans will be a
nice place to detox.
We traveled across the
Yellow Banks today. There are two paths
to get from Nassua to Norman’s: Across
the Yellow Banks or the dogleg. Across,
you encounter coral heads. Coral Heads
will sink the boat if we hit them right.
The Dog Leg has less coral heads but is 10 miles longer. We were going to be conservative and do the
Dog Leg. But we talked with friends of
Blue Star, Mystic, and they said you could easily spot these coral heads a mile
off. So we set for the Yellow Banks.
When we approached the area
I put on the polarized sunglasses and went to the bow to look for coral
heads. Mitch and I worked out a hand
signal method, so I could signal which way he should steer.
So when I began to see them,
I began to signal. As reference, a few
of our guidebooks have pictures of coral heads. Then, up ahead, I see a black puddle. Probably 10’ x 10’. The
water all around is clear but for this puddle a half mile away. That’s what a coral head looks like! A puddle!
What I first thought was coral, was rock or coral way down in the water
where our depth wouldn’t be affected.
With the water being so clear, it’s weird to try and make out coral,
rock and grass, and how deep they are in the water. I hope to learn to gauge the water better. Mitchell told me later that he knew I was
signaling him around nothing, but he didn’t want me to second guess myself.
December 17, 1999
We’ve got cinnamon rolls in the oven and we’re just
getting ready to talk on the single side band with Jerry before the Net. Every morning at 8:30 on channel 8152, we
check in to let anyone/everyone know where we are. If someone wants to talk with you or get a message to you, they
announce it here. We often hear people
looking for boats. Sometimes others on
the net will have seen them and pipe in to announce what they know.
Yesterday Blue Star, Sea
Treat and Amphora came into Norman’s.
We had a “Welcome to the Bahamas” Party. I went to the beach earlier in the day looking for food. All I was able to find were snails. I saw a lot of baby conch. You have to wait until their of reproduction
age, which is about when their the size of two fists and have a lip on their
shell. I caught 5-6 snails but felt
sorry for them. So we set them free.
We also walked around
Norman’s yesterday. The island used to
be a drop point for a Colombian drug lord 15 years ago. Then the U.S. teamed up with the Bahamian
government to shut them down. The
beaches and coral are very beautiful.
There are garbage piles however, from residents and boaters. These are sad to look upon. Also 20+ cars and trucks just rusting away
along with a lot of abandon buildings.
I think Carlos Leder (the drug lord) had a resort where he invited his
friends to come to the island.
Today is the last day for
smoking. I did laundry while Mitchell
cleaned the boat and put knobs on our locker doors in the forepeak. Later we will go with Ken and Dorothy,
gunkholing. Hopefully we’ll find conch!
December 18, 1999
We went to MacDuffs today
for lunch. Mitchell says, “What a weird
concept; an island with 4-15 people, depending upon the season, living on it
and a bar/resort next to a airplane
runway’. The bar was filled today with
boaters and residents. So no populace
to speak of with exception to a bar filled with people…
Today we mainly hung out on
the boat. I cooked bread and clover
leaf rolls. I used Jiffy mix which was
a problem because the rolls came out too salty. I will try plain flour next time.
MacDuffs was a fun
time. The prices we reasonable
considering everything must be flown in by plane. Sea Treat and Amphora are very nice people. Blue Star and Tididi were there too. It’s a fun group. While we were there the bars’ new generator arrived, by plane of
course. So all the men went out and
lent a hand to get the generator off the plane and onto a tractor. We were all rewarded with drinks on the house. I had the house specialty, a rum pineapple drink. It was very tasty.
December 19, 1999
Sampson Cay, Exumas, Bahamas
We are at Sampson Cay. Today began with a touch of
apprehension. The weather these past
few days has brought high winds and some squalls. The current added to this mix made it a bit rolly. And strong winds kept us from
snorkeling. Setting out this morning,
we were concerned about the weather changing and getting hit with high winds or
squalls in the wrong direction. But God
was very kind to us today. The winds
were not great, but they were light so we were able to motor sail. We made water and was able to get fully
charged again.
Sampson Cay is not windy or
rolly. In fact, Mitchell’s complaining
that it’s very warm below. Too warm to
make pasta. We feel very good about
where we are. The snorkeling is
supposed to be very good here. I’m told
that a 007 movie was filmed here, “Thunderball” something. Our Armada includes: Blue Star, Alegria,
Tididi, Amphora and Sea Treat. They are
all very nice people. Sea Treat let Amphora
and us anchor first because we both draw 6’.
So tomorrow we snorkel and call home to our parents. We’re told there might be a phone here. We also need to deliver the books for
church. They are making the boat sail
poorly because they weigh so much.
December 20, 1999
The date is a hard thing to
keep track of. Even what day of the
week it is, is hard to keep track of.
We’re still at Sampson Cay. We plan
to stay in the area through Christmas.
Nearby(5 miles) is Big Major Point and Staniel Cay. Big Major looks like a nice anchorage, we
might move there. Staniel Cay has got 3
grocery stores and a church and a yacht club and 1 marina.
We went to Staniel
yesterday. They also have a phone. We picked up email and found out Bluewater
Books returned the software to Esther.
This is the software that Mitch had Federal Expressed to Marathon only
to discover it didn’t work with NT. So
he had to rent a car and return it in person in Ft. Lauderdale. We had to call Bluewater books to straighten
the mess out and at $1.00 per minute for phone calls, this weatherfax software
was doubling in cost. They ran Mitchell
round for about 5 minutes ($5 dollars) and then I heard him say: No I can’t call back and my next call will
be to the Attorney Generals office and the Seven Seas Cruising
Association. This seemed to get their
attention and they seemed more co-operative.
Alfie The Dog is piddling in
the house. I thought, maybe he’s
dissatisfied with something. Then we
found out it’s 5 degrees below zero in MN.
And Esther says he acts like he’s tortured when she sends him
outside. Alfie doesn’t like cold. Esther says she’s OK with him still. Amazing!
So much news! We blew over
$40.00 in phone calls and I still didn’t get to talk with my Dad. I did get to talk with my Grandmother and my
Mom though. That was nice.
After all the phone calls,
we went looking for someone at the church.
We were given directions to Vivian’s house. When we got there, we pressed the doorbell and the doorbell
played “Jesus Loves Me”. No one was
home so we went next store to the Isles General Store and asked if they knew if
Vivian was near by. Yes she’s near by
the woman said and smiled. The store
keep was Vivian! She’s interested in
the books, so we will dinghy them in today and let her go through them.
Everyone here is very
friendly and the houses are well kept and brightly painted. Bright blue, pink and yellow or green. I hope they have Christmas Service, I think
that would be really nice.
Talking with people on the
phone, knowing they are so far away, I found a quote in the Yacht Club that
struck me:
May the Lord watch
between me and thee
while we are absent
one from another
December 22, 1999
Yesterday and today were
very busy days. Yesterday we went gunkholing
looking for conch. We got one of legal
size, but holed the dinghy in the process.
We were losing air fast so we took off back home. I put the conch in our see through
bucket. Mitchell keeps asking me: Are you going to kill that conch or
not? Well, I look through the bottom of
the bucket and see these two eyes looking around with antenna, so he can swivel
his eyes independently. He’s looking
around trying to figure out why he’s in a bucket. There were a lot of baby conch in the area where I caught
him. So I imagine that he was probably
telling the babies a conch story when I so thoughtlessly ripped him off the sea
floor. And now none of the baby conch
will know how the Old Conch Stories go because he won’t be around to tell it.
I think to myself; You can do this. Stop being so soft.
Everybody kills and eats conch.
I consult my cookbook: 1. Hold his body next to the shell. 2. Crack a hole in the shell with a hammer. 3. Cut the connection membrane in the
hole. 4. He’s not dead yet, so pull him out and cut off his eyes! This is going to take me longer than 5
minutes and meanwhile, I’m terrorizing this poor sea creature!
So we inflate the tube that
has the hole in it and beat back to where we found him.(It would be rude not
to) So he goes back to where we found
him among the baby conch and a bright red starfish. We high tail it home before we sink in our dinghy. Mitchell patched the dinghy well. And Blue Star and Tididi came over for a
sundowner(impromptu). We decided that
we were like a small village. So
instead of calling out 4 different boat names, when we call on the radio to
each other, we could just call: The Village.
I called this morning and it worked.
Tonight Dorothy called The Village People and I thought, what a funny
name for a boat. Then I realized, we’re
The Village!
The test with the dinghy was
this morning. First we moved 5 miles
south to Big Major. A pig lives on the
island. Then we packed up all the books
from Church and delivered them to Vivian.
We’ll pick up what she doesn’t want next week. The dinghy managed all those books well. No problems.
Tomorrow, I think we’ll go
see the pig and explore. Mitch told me
tonight that he didn’t want to kill an animal.
I thought I would continue to try for fish. But it is hard to justify knowing we have a boat full of
food. I think I’ll pray to God and ask
him to deliver a nice edible fish on our hook if it’s in the divine plan. That way it will seem sanctioned, sort
of. With conch, you just pick them
up. No real defense on their part. I’ve been looking for conch since Normans
Cay. I’ve seen hundreds and hundreds of
baby conch, but they have to be a certain size to be caught legally because if
you take conch that hasn’t reproduced… Well that’s extinction. So, it is indicative that too many are being
taken if they are so hard to find eh?
In this anchorage there are
15+ boats ranging in size from 27’ to 40’.
And there are 4 mega yachts 50’-150’ among these little sailboats.
December 25, 1999
Merry Christmas! It’s been a nice Christmas too. Thursday, we did get to feed the pig. We decided we didn’t like the mixed pasta
shells that we have on board.
Specifically, the spinach shells.
So I picked out all the green ones.
I was making pasta salad, so I had left over water too. So I cooked up the green shells and armed
with a few dinner rolls, off we went to see Miss Piggy!(Later we find out her
real name is Emily) The night before
there were people on the radio talking about their encounters with the
pig. “She climbed in my dinghy”, “She
bit me”, Well, she doesn’t see well”, “Watch out, she’ll swim out to meet you
and swamp your dinghy” Well, needless
to say, we were, or I was a bit apprehensive about approaching this beach and
this pig. Mitchell didn’t seem as shook
as I was. So as he motored the dinghy
toward the beach I prepared to lob dinner rolls at her to distract her from
swimming out to us. The dinner rolls
worked, but she eats so fast. I just
barely got to the beach as she ran to me so I threw down the bag of pasta and
let her root through it. I didn’t want
to help her for fear she would accidentally bite my fingers. I think the tales of her are larger than
life. We saw a dinghy motor up to the
beach, the pig went to greet them, but she didn’t climb in their dinghy or bite
them.
We also got to snorkel
Thunderball Cave. The coral and bottom
are so cool! There were tons of
fish. The fish surround you as you
swim. So cool!
Christmas Eve, we went into
Staniel Cay. There was a line at the
pay phones. We got to pick up our email
and talk with our parents. It was nice. Alfie hasn’t piddled in the house for a
week. Maybe he’s getting more
comfortable. A cold front was
forecasted to come through Friday night.
There was also a dinner scheduled at Club Thunderball and a Candle Light
Service at church. Friday afternoon we
watched the front approach. A big bank
of dark clouds. We were hoping it would
arrive before dinner. We weren’t sure
if we should make the 10 minute dinghy ride to Club Thunderball or not. The front still had not arrived at 6pm, so
we headed to Club Thunderball for Christmas Dinner. Dinner was nice: Chicken, corn on the cob, rice with peas and
coleslaw. After dinner, the stars disappeared
and the wind began to increase. The
front had arrived. We climbed into the
dinghy, checked the fuel. No fuel, so
we filled the tank and set out home.
That’s when it began to rain. It
was a wet and windy and dark ride home.
The islands were big dark masses.
We would shine the flashlight at the island and it looked so much
closer. It wasn’t very close, but the
light made it look so odd. When we got
back to Hetty, we were wet. It was nice
to be home. The wind and waves didn’t
seem to be so large now. I opened our
hatch and climbed inside… There were
presents by the tree! Santa was here
while we were out having dinner! We
opened our bottle of eggnog and opened our gifts. I got the most beautiful Guatemalan backpack! Black with brown and white fishes on
it. It’s wonderful! Mitchell got a hat and can cozy with the
Staniel Cay Yacht club ensign on them.
What a warm and wonderful Christmas!
The wind and waves seem to
be picking up today, Saturday. The
forecast is for high winds for the next few days. The wind generator will be working to fill our batteries and
we’ll be busy making baked treats. We
do miss not being in MN. for Christmas.
I think next year we should try and get home for the holidays.
December 28, 1999
Staniel Cay
The winds blew and blew and
blew. Sunday they were from the north,
northwest. That was all right. We had some protection from the island north
of us. So the waves weren’t too
bad. I made bread and peanut butter
cookies. Actually, I made dough for the
cookies and Mitchell baked them. The
winds were still too strong to go to church though. I think my skill at bread making is getting better. The final product had a good consistency.
Monday-Boxing Day-The winds
continued to blow, but more westerly than north. At Big Majors, we have no westerly protection. So the waves piled up. We tried to move a bit closer to the island
and a bit more north, but that didn’t help much. Last night was the rolliest night. Straight west wind. We
haven’t slept in the forepeak for 3 nights!
I think last night was probably the worst for lack of sleep. Mitchell got 2 ˝ hours of sleep. The roll, up and down was large. Up and down is far preferable than side to
side, which we experienced over the weekend.
In any event, it’s time to go.
Where, is the question. We could
anchor behind the Thunderball grotto, but there is a strong north/south current
in there. On the other side of Big
Major the holding is questionable. Our
chart says poor holding, yet people swear it’s all right. If we can’t find comfort behind Thunderball
grotto, we will have to go south, 59 mile to Georgetown because there’s no good
protection from strong winds between here and there. 59 miles would be an overnight passage. Since Mitchell only had 2 ˝ hours of sleep, we figured we would
try behind the grotto and see how it was.
Another added component was that along with us having a less than
restful night last night, 12+ other boats were in the same predicament. Tuesday morning all radio conversations were
between the people at Big Majors and the people behind the grotto. How was their night? How rolly was it? Etc…. Then to disseminate their opinions. It’s helpful to know what kind of boat they
have. If it’s a small fast boat, they
will be more uncomfortable than a large heavy boat. So we decided to tuck in behind the grotto. Hopefully quickly, as there are 12+ boats
wanting to do the same thing.
We get there, put down the
anchor and drag. Mitchell says when he
put his hand on the chain, it vibrated like someone was dragging it across a
driveway! 70’ of chain, 3 pounds per
foot, 210 pounds! Now, on 2 ˝ hours sleep, he has to pull it all up. I can’t help because I need to be at the
helm, ready to drive us away if we come close to rocks. The current is very strong. Blue Star came in with us and I saw them
moving sideways with the current faster than they were moving forward! What to do now? Well, there are mooring balls here and one left. We were told no one likes this last mooring
ball because it’s the bumpiest and rolliest.
People moor here for one night and leave again. Mitchell is exhausted, I don’t feel that
perky myself. So we decide we’ll give
it a try. We hope that since we are one
of the heavier boats around here, we’ll be more comfortable than the other
boats that took this mooring. How do
you pick u a mooring ball? A mooring
ball is a ball attached to the bottom with very strong chain. We just nosed up forward very slowly to the
ball. Then Mitchell pulled the roped
attached to the ball up. We decided to
celebrate my birthday early since the last few days have been less than
comfortable. So we went to Thunderball
Club for cheeseburgers and french fries!
It was great! Then later we were
invited over to Journey. Journey is a 50–some
foot powerboat. Dave, Ellen and baby
Amy aboard along with Captain John..
They are very nice people. We
met them at Normans. They are on a 3
weeks cruise. They’re from
Chicago. They’ve been to Alaska. Then they had their boat shipped to Chicago. Then earlier this year they had her moved
down the Mississippi, through the Gulf to Nassau, where they began their
cruise. Journey is a beautiful boat
with a lot of creature comforts.
December 29, 1999
Oh my what a fun filled
schedule they have for my birthday!
Staniel Cay has fireworks, junkanoo, golf, regatta and a lot of other
fun things scheduled. We figured there
would be no sleep from Thursday to Sunday if one was to participate in it
all. Last night on our $10.00 mooring
ball was very restful. Mitchell woke
once in the night to check the ball, but otherwise it was very restful. We think we’ll stay here until the west wind
subsides. The forecast calls for the
west wind to clock north tonight and east for the remainder of the week. It sounds like the weather will be
nice. We toy with the idea of staying
on the ball, because it will be so convenient for the festivities. Junkanoo is scheduled for 4am on Saturday. I don’t want to miss that. So we will need a nap. Speaking of
naps, among The Village, we’re known as the boat that Snacks And
Naps. Our friends go on a lot of dinghy
rides and hikes. We often opt out of
these scheduled activities, preferring to relax, snack and nap on Hetty. Once in a while when The Village decides to
do something, you’ll hear another boat say: We’re going to follow Hetty Braces
schedule and Snack And Nap.
There are also a lot of
boats that move south to Georgetown.
Each day they stop at Norman’s or Staniel and instead of staying any
length of time, they take off the next day.
I think there is a preconceived notion that George Town is the end all
place to be. We call boats who travel
this fast Itchy Britches… As in, They
have Itchy Britches to get to Georgetown.
Georgetown is a demarcation line.
Many people spend the whole 6 months there. Others just re-provision and move farther south.
December 31, 1999
It’s my Birthday!
There’s a banner in the boat that says so! When I awoke, which was before 6am. I got up to check our mooring ball because I could hear it
thumping on the hull. (This happens
when the current opposes the wind.) And
to my surprise, there’s a banner in the boat:
Happy Birthday Michelle!!! I
laughed and smiled, what a wonderful way to wake up!
Yesterday Steve and Roger (Sea
Treat and Amphora) caught conch. I
watched them kill and clean it. I might
be able to do that. I keep thinking how
every meal we’re able to catch will help our budget. Then I think about all the food we have and I think that the
animal I kill won’t make the difference.
They offered us some conch and I accepted. What a hypocrite huh? We
bought lobster Thursday too. We bought
it from a Bahamian named Alan. When
Alan heard it was going to be my Birthday dinner, he threw in another
tail! Very nice guy! We provisioned yesterday too. We’re thinking if the winds are right, we
should take off on Sunday. Where
to? I’m not sure.
I have my fishing pole out
and am using conch guts as bait. So far
no one is biting. I pray to God we only
catch something edible.(If it’s His will.)
I don’t want to terrorize a fish we’re not going to kill. Wednesday, we went over to Rising Sun(Allan
& Carol) They have a Camper &
Nicholson too. Allan took the last year
off to work full time on his boat.
There boat is very nice and feels new.
Where our boat has a lot of wood, their boat is newly covered with a
Formica like substance. It’s really
nice to see other ideas we could use.
Rising Sun has a quarter berth.
Mitch and I talked about putting on in.
So that was especially nice to see.
January 1, 2000
I was able to write the date
without a problem so Y2K must be bunk.
I feel hung over but I didn’t drink a lot yesterday. 2 glasses of wine. I think all of yesterdays activities wore us out. It began early. I used conch guts to fish and caught 3 fish! The first one was a snapper. We thought he was too small so we threw him
back. He was about 10” long. The second was bigger 12”-15”. Again, we thought him to small so we threw
him back. The last one was a snapper, a
bit smaller than the first but I reeled him in anyway. I put him in a bucket, thanked him for his
life, and poured alcohol on him so he’d die quickly. The last cast I did, I had to fight hard. The reel was very taut. I lost the hook. Someone bit through the line!
Sea Treat came over with chocolates and conch for my birthday. They are so nice! Thursday night there was an auction. Steve and Ann bid on and won the chocolates they gave me! The
purpose of the auction was to raise money to help finance the regatta. Sailors gave items to auction off. My Mom gave us yogurt covered pretzels in a
Christmas tin. I served them at a
gathering last week and we put Blue Stars gift in the tin. Blue Star submitted
the tin to the auction and it went for $10.00!
Surprise! Surprise! Anyway, it
was time to watch the Bahamian regatta.
The cruisers signed up to sail on the various local sailboats. Everyone we know got a chance to crew. Then we had conch burgers at the Staniel Cay
Yacht club. We were very tired by now,
but soon we’d have to get ready for New Years Eve. Dinner on Blue Star then church then fireworks then a nap until
junkanoo, which starts at 4am. We got a
nap and showered. Mitchell made me a
birthday cake. A chocolate birthday
cake with milk chocolate frosting! So
we brought our lobster and cake over to Blue Stars for dinner. Ken and Dorothy are very entertaining
friends. It was a nice dinner with
conch salad, greek salad, lobster with pasta and chocolate cake! Then off to church! I think they had an electric guitar. They sang a lot and clapped a lot. It was a really nice service. The church got really crowded, so Mitchell gave
up his seat. Midnight was
approaching. Church was not going to
end before midnight. I wiggled over to
where Mitchell was, but there was only one chair. We went to try and stand in the back of the church, but a lot of
people were already standing back there.
So we left and began to walk down the main street. Main street is a 12’ wide path. Some of it has been washed away so it
narrows to 6’ in spots. When midnight
arrived, we were under the stars in a quiet spot next to the beach. We could hear the people at Staniel Cay
Yacht Club counting down and cheering.
It was perfect. All the
excitement. All the hype. And here we were enjoying the beginning of
2000 in the middle of nowhere. The
fireworks went off. The reflections
they made in the water was beautiful.
Katy (Tom and Karen) were on the beach lighting off fireworks and
enjoying sparklers. We also ran into
Renegade (Peter and Eveyln). We met
Peter and Evelyn on Christmas Day. We
enjoyed sundowners on the beach on Christmas Day with them and a few other
couples. They are Austrian and have a
48’ catamaran. Evelyn even has a clothes washing machine on board! They decided they were going to race in the
New Years Day regatta and invited us along.
Sea Treat also raced. Sailing a
catamaran is very different. Their boat
is beautiful. They built her
themselves. It’s not finished yet, but
the work they’ve done so far is very nice.
Long story short, we won! We
were the first boat to cross the finish line.
Now we needed another nap before the awards ceremony. Are you tired reading all this? We got extremely tired doing all this. It was a lot of fun, but now we’re very
tired. On the way home tonight, two
women were sitting on a bench, next to the road. We said Hi and then one said “Happy belated birthday!” What fun!
January 3, 2000
Blackpoint, Exumas, Bahamas
Sunday we went to Blackpoint Settlement. It was just 5 miles away, but the wind was
strong and there were squalls. So it
was enough for today. We went ashore to
take a walk. A cold front is expected
in the area by Wednesday, so we’re not sure how long we should stay. This is not a good place for west
winds. On our walk we met Eunice. Eunice weaves baskets, hats and mats. She told us to come by tomorrow to see them. Our “Tour Guide”(self-appointed), was the
nicest mixed breed pup. We would pet
him and then start to walk again at which point he would walk in front of us,
so we would have to stop and pet him again or trip over him. We went to Adderly’s store too. Their prices were good and Reverend Adderly
was there. He’s very nice too. We bought bacon for BLT’s. On down the street, people saying hello, all
very warm and friendly. We met Willie
Rolle. Willie wants to show us his
garden. The Garden Of Eden. Which it surely is. The ground is a mixture of earth and
coral/rock. Willie has selected pieces
of wood with fantastic shapes and created statues. A ballerina with a conch shell for a head. A goat, a snake, Jesus on the cross… Among the statues are papaya, banana,
peanuts, apple and orange trees, bushes…
He explained and showed us how well he and his family could live off
this land. He was so warm and
engaging. We got to meet his wife,
Betty. Willie has 5 daughters and 9
grandchildren. Their home and those
we’ve seen so far are airy(because there is no glass windows, only window
frames) and sparsely furnished. I don’t
think Willies home had any electricity or water.(Other than the bucket I saw
one of his grandchildren carrying.)
It’s funny/ironic how life is.
Willie and his family are so rich with family, togetherness and
virtues. Although I don’t think they
have more than 10 bucks total. The
whole town is very economic poor, but so friendly and warm and giving. We asked Willie how long we might be able to
stay here until the Bahamian government finds us. He said they never would as long as you live decent and cause no
trouble. Hmmm, a plan maybe? Willie also told us some artists from New
York came to view his sculptures and talked about possibly creating greeting
cards and such. Then it got dark and
Willie walked us back to the dock. On
the way we passed a water pump. He said
it was RO(reverse osmosis) water and we were more than welcome to fill our
tanks! Staniel Cay charged .50 cents
per gallon for water and these people were giving it away! We haven’t seen free water since Ft. Myers
Beach, FL.! On Monday we decided to head south
to try and get better cover before the front came. But in the morning we went ashore
again. We asked Reverend Adderly about
the need for church supplies. We was
more enthusiastic than Staniel Cay! So
we dropped a note off to Chuck at the Ruskin Methodist Church asking for more
supplies. It would be so exciting to be
able to organize a shipment of supplies to them. He also said any children’s clothes were welcome. The address: Reverend Adderly, Blackpoint, Exuma Islands, Bahamas. On our way out we stopped to see Eunice and
buy a basket and mat from her. She’s
been widowed a few years and is very delighted that Mitch and I are
together. She says he’s my Sweet Potato
and I am his Sweet Potato.
January 4, 2000
Big Galliot Cay, Exumas,
Bahamas
Tonight we are at Galliot
Cay. Big Galliot and Little Galliot
actually. The current is strong and the
cut to Exuma Sound is less than 1 mile away.
We will try to exit through the cut tomorrow morning. The reason I say try is because the wind and
current, if it’s opposing each other would make the pass treacherous. So we will be very cautious. We’re headed towards Lee Stocking Island
about 15 miles away. Already we know
the sailing will be rough because the wind won’t be favorable. Lee Stocking Island has a marine research
facility. Sometimes they give
tours. Then we’re just 20 miles from
Georgetown. HooBoy! Big city here we come! September Song left yesterday. Today their at the Vinoy yacht basin in St.
Petersburg. From the Vinoy to Desoto to
Charlotte Harbor to the Dry Tortugas.
Mitchell and I are very excited to hear their impressions and adventures
that Tom and Cindy and Dylan are embarking upon. We are also excited to see them.
Not only because they are bringing us Snickers. Today we had BLT sandwiches and conch
chowder. Boy, it was good.
January 6, 2000
Lee Stocking Island, Exumas,
Bahamas
Lee Stocking Island is an international marine
research facility. Scientists and
students come from all over to study the environment. I think NOAA subsidizes the work here. We’re on a mooring ball.
They’re free. Thank you Uncle
Sam! Tuesday we stayed at Galliot
because of high winds. Wednesday the
sea was calm so we took off into Exuma Sound.
The cut was bouncy, but not too bad.
Kind of like being in a washing machine that is 1 mile wide. Katy, the trawler got tossed around a
lot. So much so that they got air in
their fuel lines. It took them 2 hours
to get the engine bled. I think Tom
ingested about a gallon of diesel, bleeding the engine so not only were they
bobbing around engineless, he was feeling pretty sick. Blue Star, Sea Treat and us sailed slowly
while Amphora(who has the same engine as Katy and is the biggest boat) stayed
near by just in case Katy needed a tow or help. But she got going again. Yahoo!
We got to Lee Stocking at noon.
We wanted to sail on to Georgetown but we were worried that arriving at
4pm wouldn’t allow us enough light to clearly see the cut into Georgetown. Today we awoke with 2 knot winds. We were worried about the wave action in the
cut so decided to stay here today.
These cuts can be quite dangerous if not carefully maneuvered. You need the right current, right wind and
light. Looking back, we probably could
have continued yesterday or we could have left this morning.(We talked with
someone in Georgetown that said the cut was calm today.) Tomorrows forecast is 15 knots east,
north-east winds. Less wind than today
so we should be in good shape. We
expected to be in Georgetown by yesterday.
We sent a note off to our family saying we’ll be there by the
weekend. I’m glad we did, now they
won’t worry. Blue Star and Katy both
gave us conch. We had cracked conch
with rice for dinner. It was very
nice. The conch Dorothy gave me I had
to tenderize myself. Karen tenderized
the conch she gave me. What a
difference! Karen’s conch was so much
more tender! I will need to get a
tenderizing mallet. I also want a 7”
tube pan for rum cake and a screen to prevent grease from splattering when we
cook bacon. We also have a list of
chores we want to do when we get to Georgetown. Among them is to look at the water heater. Mitch says it’s aluminum so maybe it’s
fixable. We miss our doggy and kitty
very much. It will be nice to see them.